Republican lawmakers attempt to stop estate-tax regulation

Republican lawmakers in the House are attempting to stop a proposed estate-tax regulation that could be finalized late this year.
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, introduced a bill Wednesday that would halt the rule. A similar bill written by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., was introduced last week.
The regulation, which was proposed by the Treasury Department in early August, would curb tax-planning strategies that lower the valuation of ownership stakes in corporations and partnerships that are transferred between generations.
Mr. Davidson said Congress, rather than Treasury, should make changes to the tax code. He also has in his district “a lot of manufacturing businesses and farms that will be impacted,” said Mr. Davidson’s spokesman, Alexei Woltornist.
The Family Business Coalition launched a lobbying campaign Thursday to build congressional opposition to the estate-tax regulation.
“I think the goal of the legislation is to put as much pressure as possible on the Treasury Department to withdraw the regulation or to delay enactment until the next Treasury secretary can review the regulation,” said Palmer Schoening, chairman of the Family Business Coalition.
The Capitol Hill schedule leaves little time for action on Mr. Davidson’s bill. Congress is meeting this month and then will take a break until a lame duck session after the November election.
“As a procedural matter, it would be difficult to move it forward,” said Marc Gerson, a member at Miller & Chevalier and a former Republican tax counsel on the House Ways and Means Committee. “It’s a question of whether they go beyond messaging. Do they start garnering attention and support from tax writers?”
Mr. Davidson, who replaced former House Speaker John Boehner in a special election earlier this year, is not a member of the Ways and Means Committee. But several of the 20 original cosponsors of the bill do sit on the panel.
Treasury is taking comments on the proposal and has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 1. A final rule could be released by the end of the year.
At that point, its survival may depend on who wins the presidential election. A new administration typically puts recent rules on hold and reviews them, according to Ronald Levin, professor of law at Washington University.
The estate tax also became an issue on the presidential campaign trail Thursday.
(More: Side-by-side comparison of Clinton, Trump tax plans)
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton called for raising the top rate to 65% for estates of $500 million or more ($1 billion for married couples), and establishing a 50% rate for estates of more than $10 million per individual and a 55% rate for those starting at $50 million per individual. Previously, she proposed a top rate of 45%.
The current top rate is 40%, and estate taxes begin to kick in for estates over $5.45 million per person and $10.9 million per married couple.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has proposed eliminating the estate tax.